T Millions of individuals around the world rely on travel by automobiles, buses, trucks, or other types of vehicles, for either business or pleasure, each and every day. Unfortunately, as the number of vehicles being utilized by the ever-increasing driving population continues to grow, the use of these vehicles causes increased congestion and increased traffic on our roadways.
Another problem which arguably stems from our reliance on vehicles is our need to travel to destinations which may not be totally or even remotely familiar. In some instances, these travel needs require unexpected travel directions or instructions on-the-fly. As one can readily appreciate, maps are not always available to a vehicle operator or occupant. Further, it is not always easy to obtain directions or instructions from an external source while operating a vehicle.
In this wireless information age, some vehicle manufacturers have installed wireless communication equipment in vehicles which can put a vehicle operator into contact with a service representative who may offer driving directions or instructions. Yet other vehicle manufacturers have offered navigational aids which can provide driving directions of instructions to a vehicle operator or occupant.
While the above-described products and services may provide some assistance to a vehicle operator or occupant, they do not appear to provide information regarding which one or more of a number of possible travel routes is an optimal travel route. In this regard, the above-described prior art products and services do not appear to provide information regarding travel routes which result in the shortest travel time, travel routes which involve the minimum number of turns, or travel routes which avoid traffic obstacles or encumbrances.
In this regard, the prior art fails to provide an apparatus and method for identifying an optimal travel route or routes from information regarding the travel area and for providing optimized travel directions or instructions to a vehicle operator or occupant.